


The Yuletide Text

by Quillori



Category: Mythology - Egyptian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-21
Updated: 2009-12-21
Packaged: 2017-10-04 22:25:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quillori/pseuds/Quillori
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In Bakhtan, a god, a ghost and a man tell stories to each other, contemplating the benefits and limitations of civilisation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Yuletide Text

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Titania](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Titania/gifts).



> Author's note: It's always hard with mythology to know how much familiarity with canon to assume among readers. I imagined these tales as being shared during the story outlined on the Bentresh stela, after the akhu had been expelled from Bentresh, but it isn't really necessary to know the framing tale. (If you're interested, it can be found [here](http://www.ccel.org/ccel/pearse/morefathers/files/hilaria_03_bent_resh.htm) or [here](http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/texts/bentresh_stela.htm).) The middle section is a version of the first Setne tale (which can be found [here](http://tinyurl.com/ya52hat) or [here](http://ib205.tripod.com/setne_1.html)). For the benefit of readers unfamiliar with Egyptian Mythology, I've treated my original story as a found document ('The Yuletide Text') and, in bringing it to a wider audience, appended a few notes. I hope these will be useful, and in any case, I quite like the idea of a story about the limits of what man can achieve being in itself partially lost and the grounds for speculation.

_The following tale was told by Khonsu, the Provider, the One Who Feeds Upon Hearts. He recalled the time when Shu was sent to convince his wife and sister Tefnut to give up her rage and return in peace to Egypt, and how Thoth had accompanied him, giving sound advice._ 1

Then Tefnut opened her mouth to Shu, replying to his entreaties:2

I wandered through Egypt, I left behind the cities, I abandoned Egypt, I took to the desert. Bloodlust consumes my heart and I burn the sands with the terror of my power. Men scurry from place to place, looking always behind them. Timid as desert hares, they creep into the oases where I lie in wait to feast upon them, to tear and devour their guts. Fearful as the hyrax,3 they trek between the dunes, each man crying to his neighbour for protection when I fall upon them, strewing the desert with their shattered bones, consuming their damp marrow. I will scratch the dark flesh of the Nubians, I will tear out that which is within them, splitting their bones and swallowing down their slippery entrails. I will drink their blood like beer, like wine, gorging myself on fresh meat. My breath shall be the wind in the desert, consuming as fire. None shall escape me.

Then Thoth opened his mouth to Tefnut, replying to her words:

Most Powerful One, first in Iunu, let my words soften the anger of your countenance. You have abandoned Egypt, fled from Taremu,4 left your people desolate. The children of Egypt choke in the dry air, dust clogs their throats. Every breath burns their lungs, every step burns their feet. Desert encroaches on the river, on the marshes; the breath of dawn brings no relief, no dew falls upon the land.

Goddess of mist, worshipped in Tjebntjer,5 hold fast my words. Wash the blood from your hands with cool water, rinse out your mouth. Turn from the Nubian desert and remember Egypt! The winding streams and deep pools shimmer like silver, the reeds rustle in a gentle breeze. Everywhere the eye feasts upon fields of wheat, fields of barley. Gardens endless with fruits are found here, orchard trees in neatly tended lines. In pleasure gardens, the heavy laden boughs sway slowly, dipping to brush the lotus ponds. Here is where you should make your home! Here you may lie in comfort, contented, surrounded by all that is good.

Anointed with oil, arise from refreshing sleep and clothe yourself in fine linen. Rise splendid, shining with glory; put from your mind the dirt and the heat of the desert. The floor beneath your feet is smooth sycamore, the ceiling above is lapis, the doorbolt beneath your hand is bronze in a door of copper.

Your face is washed with honey water, your breath sweetened with natron. The room has been fumigated with rosemary, the floor strewn with basil: no flies disturb your rest. Rise up and dress as befits your station. Line your dark eyes with kohl, tint your lips red: you are fit to receive the praise of all who see you.

Our Lady of Dew, hailed in Tjeny,6 my tongue cannot misspeak, maat fills the speech of gods.7 Come home along the river, come home through the reeds! Along the banks are the boat builders' workshops; reedcutters break off to hail your passage. Everywhere men collect mud for bricks, shaping it in straight-sided moulds; everywhere rushes are being collected to coil and wrap into baskets. Fishermen work in teams with nets and traps or, solitary, harpoon the plump fish. All through the land, the people are industrious. Here, potters shape red and black coarseware, decorate many-coloured faience. There, flax is gathered and retted, beaten and combed to clothe your limbs in white linen. Gold is brought in from the desert and purified by fire in the busy workshop, richly decorated with jewels brought in trade and tribute from the entire world. No wall is left unpainted, no field escapes irrigation, the busy scribes ensure everything is carried out as it should be. From every nome taxes are gathered in, from the Pharaoh justice flows out to the people.

Lady who dwells amongst the lilies, fill your heart with the labour of men, which makes all good things come to be, and rich offerings to the gods.

_The following tale was told by the akhu that had been called forth from Bentresh. He recalled the priest Setne's attempt to steal the book of Thoth from the tomb of Naneferkaptah, who had died for his presumption in taking it for himself._

It was dark beyond the enclosure walls. Stray dogs slunk through the shadowed streets in hungry packs: no sound of human voices, no step of human feet. Only one man passed heedless through the narrow, twisted alleys, his thoughts all before him, fixed on what lay beyond the cold doorbolt, the heavy door.

Setne entered the house of Tabubu and gazed at her in hunger. The dinner had she spread before him held no interest, not the roasted wild duck, caught in the marshes, not the fish fresh from the trap: as far as he was concerned, the dogs in the street could eat them. The soft bread had been baked in vain; the ripe figs, the bloom still on their dark skin, had been picked only to rot. He had no appetite for anything save Tabubu. The incense smoking on the brazier meant nothing to him; he put down the wine cup that had been pressed into his hand without tasting it. He was blind to the riches on display, the floor inlaid with lapis, the finely-woven linen, the golden cups and faience bowls; he was deaf to everything but the sound of Tabubu's voice. The days had passed unnoticed as he waited with longing to visit her; his nights had been sleepless. Like one already dead, he noticed nothing, felt nothing, empty and uncaring until she again filled his presence.

Already he was filled with fear she might escape him, that nothing he could offer would be enough to keep her. All his wealth and property seemed inadequate, the hopes he had had for his posterity no more important than the greedy snarls of the dog packs roaming outside the gate. There was nothing he possessed that he hadn't already signed over to her, and yet she still seemed doubtful he was the one she wanted, mocking his ignorance and demanding to know the limits of his power.

Setne said to Tabubu, "I have the wisdom and the power of Thoth. I found entrance to the tomb of Naneferkaptah and his wife Ihweret and came into the burial chamber, overcoming all obstacles. And behold! There lay Naneferkaptah, who was once the most learned of men. In life, he studied everything that came before him, master of every type of knowledge. He desired to know the causes and properties of things, to look upon the far reaches of this world and know how they were formed, how they might be shaped to the benefit of men.

"He furnished a boat of pinewood brought from Syria, the canopy of splendid linen. He found a skillful pilot, a man who could well-navigate the treacherous shallows, and in his command he placed experienced sailors, men whose lives were spent on the river. Up the river he travelled, set swift and straight for Gebtu.

"There, by great craft, he drew up a chest from the sacred lake, dispersing the sharp-tongued snakes and fast-moving scorpions which guarded it. Master of the blacksmith's skills, he broke open the iron chest, he broke open the bronze chest within it. Taking up a saw into his hands, he overcame the wooden chest therein, laying bare its precious contents. He opened the box of ivory, he opened the box of silver. Before him lay a box of hammered gold, bright as the sun. By his skill he opened it: by his skill he came to possess the book of Thoth.

"But Thoth cried out to Re against him; Thoth accused him before the gods of theft. He cried out for judgement, demanding that his rights be upheld. Because of Thoth, Naneferkaptah became the prey of bau, because of Thoth he was hunted down and killed with his wife and child.8

"I found entrance to his tomb, I came to where his body had been laid. Seeing the book before me, where it lay in his tomb, I contended with him for it. First by a game we strove, then by the magic I had learnt, the wisdom of those who came before me, and by the amulets crafted by skillful priests, I overcame him. By the aid of my family and my teachers, I overcame him.

"With the book in my hands, I left the tomb; with the book in my hands, I returned into the living daylight. By its aid now I can come to understand everything, from the underworld to the sky, from the deepest sea to the high mountains; the stars in their nightly courses, the shifting ocean tides: nothing will be hidden from me. No living thing will escape my understanding: not the swift-flying birds, not the silvery fishes, not the poisonous snakes, nor the patient cattle, nor anything that lives under the sun. By its aid my people will prosper unharmed."

When she heard all this, Tabubu was delighted and welcomed him to come to her, inviting him to lie with her on her inlaid bed. But when he came to touch her, when he tried to slip her dress from her body, she opened her mouth and screamed. The dream that possessed Setne twisted round him like a snake, striking horror through his guts. He was lying, not on a bed, but on an embalming table, embracing not his mistress but a corpse. Everywhere was the stench of blood, and he himself had offered up everything he possessed to death, agreed in his fever even to the butchery of his children. Were their bodies even now abandoned on the street to scavengers, lost forever to the afterlife?9

Then Naneferkaptah himself stood before him, splendid in the guise of a Pharaoh, and passed judgement on him. Naneferkaptah himself ordered that the book be returned to his tomb, that Setne give up that which he hadn't paid for, give back that which wasn't his; he ordered that fair restitution be made.

Then Setne made obeisance to Naneferkaptah, stripped naked of all he possessed and ashamed. Then Setne agreed to give up his ambitions, to accept justice and right order; he would give what was owing to the dead in their tombs, to the gods above and the gods below, lucky to still be alive, lucky that his children still survived.

_The Prince of Bakhtan consulted with his soul, weighing in his mind the tale of the god and the tale of the akhu._

Surely there is no limit to the power of gods: they will treat matters here as they will, setting things the way they should be in their eyes. As the potter shapes clay, so do they shape creation. As the hunter unerringly brings down his prey, so do they triumph over those who displease them. As the farmer by his labour brings water to his fields, so are they the source of all good things for us. And perhaps the gods favour us, for it is by the work of many men that great temples are raised up, that the wealth of the land is offered up to their praise.

Surely, too, we are blessed by maat. Men understand order and justice, overseen by the gods. Who shall complain that there are laws and boundaries, or that some things should be forbidden, when we know no city can be founded, nor town either, without rules and instructions?

But when I examine the life of a man, I remember that even most solid tree is felled and rots away, that the bitter years of age and sickness press hard upon a brief summer. Often there is no man will step forward and help another. Often the victims of thieves and bandits cry out for justice and find none. How much more often, then, shall the victims of disease and crippling age cry out unheeded? The man of faith, the pious man, thinks on himself and on his forebears, content that all things go well with them, that all things will go well with him. But no man truly knows how it may go with the dead.

By our labour we achieve much: we turn the barren desert into fruitful farms, build up the wilderness into great cities, bring all the joys of life to fruition: but there is a limit to our labour. No wall stands forever without crumbling. Always we can gaze out beyond our reach, and, fast as our hearts hold onto joy, death comes upon us, inescapable.

If you examine the life of a man, you should say concerning him that there is a little within his grasp that he may mend, and that much more with which he daily contends, but beyond that death hovers in all things, not to be cheated. You should reconcile your heart to death, feeding it up on every pleasure now while you live, for those who leave do not return.10

**Notes**

1 This late demotic tale is interesting for its mixed style: the author has clearly made some attempt to differentiate the different speakers, assigning to the god a more poetic style and to the prince one which might almost be an attempt to produce in prose something reminiscent of a harper's song. Owing to the fragmentary nature of the only surviving copy, it is not clear how much of this tale is missing. Whether there was originally an opening section, positioning the following events in relation to the tale preserved for us on the Bentresh stela is unclear. The first surviving lines are the introduction of Khonsu, who interestingly is addressed not only as 'the Provider', a title in keeping with his role on the Bentresh stela, but also by a title recalling his far earlier role in the Pyramid Texts, where he appears not as a benevolent healer, but as a monstrous figure who helps the king achieve immortality by consuming other gods.

2 Possibly there is a lacuna here, and we are missing a section of indeterminate length, wherein, at the least, Shu makes his case for Tefnut's return, and possibly summarises the whole preceding myth. Then again, perhaps Khonsu launches into his tale in media res, presuming adequate familiarity with the myth on the part of the intended audience such that no summary is required.

3 There is some doubt about the translation of this term, but the hyrax does display behaviour (huddling together for warmth, travelling in flocks with sentires) that would seem appropriate.

4 Iunu and Taremu, better known today as Heliopolis and Leontopolis, were Tefnut's main cult centres.

5 Tjebnutjer (Sebennytos) was a cult centre for Anhur (Onuris), where he was identified with Shu. It is likely that this myth, although commonly ascribed to Shu and Tefnut, originally involved Anhur and his partner, the relatively obscure lion goddess Mekhit.

6 Mekhit had a cult centre at Tjeny (Thinis), which she shared with Anhur. All the locations Thoth mentions are cult centres associated with Tefnut or Shu-Anhur, and therefore presumably likely to appeal to the errant Tefnut; they also are ordered to lead back from Nubia towards the Delta.

7 Here we have the first mention of maat, presumably here meaning truth, although the interest of the story as a whole is clearly with what we might translate as 'just order'. And indeed, we are immediately presented with a picture of men busily imposing order on their world, culminating in a specific reference to justice - one, moreover, that is clearly linked to the orderliness of society as whole, as epitomised by the efficient provision of taxes, which are then paralleled with religious offerings.

8 The gods continue to be presented in an ambiguous light - just as Khonsu is both a healer and killer, and Tefnut is not only the personification of welcome moisture but also capable of murderous rage, so Thoth himself, the god most clearly linked to maat in this story (and elsewhere - Maat taken as a goddess is sometimes held to be Thoth's wife), here is both the spokesman who demands just order be maintained and also the cause of death.

9 This is the third reference to dogs. It would seem, from the prominence of the two previous references, and the oblique reference to Setne's children, that the author expected the audience to be familiar enough with the tale to know from the start that in his passion to bed Tabubu Setne not only signs over to her all his goods but agrees to his children being murdered, their bodies to be thrown to the dogs in the street, in order that Tabubu need not fear competition with any children she might bear him. Likewise, it would appear to be assumed the audience already know that the murder of his children, like the rest of his experience with Tabubu, turned out to be an illusion. That his children should be eaten by scavengers, rather than properly buried, would have been particularly horrific to the Egyptians, who believed proper burial was a requirement for the afterlife.

10 The structure here - examination, diagnosis ('you should say') and treatment ('you should') bear an obvious similarity to what we know of Egyptian medical practice, especially to the Edwin Smith Papyrus, which shows the same structure, and also the three possible diagnoses 'that I shall treat', 'with which I shall contend' and 'not to be treated'. The prince reflecting on life like a physician on illness is perhaps appropriate to a tale introduced by Khonsu, and taking place in the setting of a successful treatment. It is worth noting that in the original framing tale from the Bentresh stela, what is required to heal the princess is proper respect and offerings being paid to the possessing spirit, and this tale presumably takes place during the celebrations that comprise that offering. It is also possible that the three tales are themselves exemplars of the possible diagnoses - Khonsu telling of Thoth (another god) successfully treating Tefnut's rage, the akhu telling of Setne's contention with Naneferkaptah and Naneferkaptah's with the magical chest, and the Prince despairingly accepting that nothing can treat death. The descent from the early praise of civilisation and order, to the warnings on the limits of what man may achieve, to the acknowledgement of the fundamental brevity of life, make this a more depressing tale than is standard, although this is somewhat counterbalanced by its unusual stress on the comforts and benefits of civilisation.


End file.
